Travel Industry news

• Regent Seven Seas Cruises appoints former agent as sales executive

  19-01-2017 10:45
  Former Thomas Cook branch manager Laura Ryan has joined Regent Seven Seas Cruises.
  
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• 10 of the best places to visit in South Somerset

  09-06-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  With rolling hills, golden villages, listed gardens and historic homes, the south of the county offers some of England’s most glorious sightsThe delightful manor house, dating back to the 1300s, was owned for generations by the Lyte family. The garden was cultivated by Elizabeth I’s botanist, Henry Lyte, but the house fell into disrepair and the garden was ploughed up. In 1909, after a century and a half of neglect, a new family took over. They restored the interior (removing a cider
  
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• The South Downs bolthole that offers a ‘complete escape from the world’

  08-06-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The Seven Sisters chalk cliffs are one of the most famous beauty spots on England’s south coast. A trio of newly-renovated cottages is giving guests a chance to immerse themselves in this iconic landscapeFrom the pebble beach at Cuckmere Haven, it’s a steep climb up a well-trodden track to get up on to the cliffs but the reward is one of the most exhilarating views the British coast has to offer – the dazzling white chalk faces of the Seven Sisters stretching into the dist
  
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• Beyond the Lake District: five of the UK’s less-visited national parks

  08-06-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From wild goats to ancient towers and fairytale lakes, our quieter parks hide a wealth of treasures. Here are some highlights in the less-famous fiveAsk most people to name a British national park and they’ll probably plump for the Lake District or the Peak District. But there are 15 parks in the UK, most of which receive far fewer visitors than those famous names. Here, we explore some of the best. Continue reading...
  
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• Mountain highs: biking and bivvying in Slovenia

  07-06-2024 10:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Bikepacking – travelling light, camping wild and offroad climbs – is an adventurous and fully immersive way of exploring the Julian Alps“I slept rough for eight days and climbed the height of Everest on a bike,” might not be everyone’s ideal holiday. But for anyone with a sense of adventure and a passing relationship with a bike, the West Loop of Slovenia’s pristine blue Julian Alps takes some beating.This 260-mile (418km) circuit, plotted out by cycling guru
  
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• Readers’ favourite UK national parks: ‘Rain, sun or snow, there’s beauty everywhere’

  07-06-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From the Cairngorms to the South Downs, the Pembrokeshire coast to the Norfolk Broads, our tipsters share their memorable discoveriesWe love to visit the northern Lake District. You can enjoy the buzz of friendly Keswick, full of great cafes, independent shops, lovely parks and fantastic views in every direction. Travel on the open-topped bus from Keswick to Seatoller and take in the beauty of Derwentwater and Borrowdale, passing through the “loveliest square mile in Lakeland” accord
  
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• An alternative guide to Sheffield: a crucible for left-field culture and regeneration

  06-06-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  With a £470m redevelopment of the city centre, a feted documentary festival and a vibrant foodie scene, the former steel-making hub is showing its true mettle“There’s a lot of confidence in Sheffield these days,” says James O’Hara, one of the city’s leading cultural promoters. “It feels like we’re on the cusp of a new era.”It’s a refrain you hear a lot in Sheffield today. Sprawled across five valleys in the foothills of the Peak Distric
  
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• My mission? A two-day voyage along the Norfolk coast to deliver potatoes for a chip shop

  05-06-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  One man is trying to revive zero-carbon cargo routes by sailing produce along England’s eastern seaboard – and taking paying passengers along for the thrilling rideThe water glitters, rippled by a rising wind, and Victorious glides silently on three huge, maroon sails. We’re the only boat in sight, surrounded by grey sea and vast sky. Every direction offers a subtly different picture: patches of blue and fluffy clouds, billowing blue-black clouds, occasional rays of sunshine be
  
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• Art in the Arctic: exploring Bodø, Norway, European capital of culture for 2024

  04-06-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The Norwegian town, just inside the Arctic Circle, makes a picturesque (and unusual) setting for a programme of exhibitions, gigs and outdoor activities – and the sun doesn’t set all summer‘You make more noise when you buy curtains!” California blues singer England Brooks, a Bodø resident for 20 years, gently berates her audience for their typically Norwegian diffidence when asked to join in on a song. They laugh, and at the next attempt sing atiny louder.This is t
  
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• Tell us about your favourite wilderness experiences in Scotland – you could win a holiday voucher

  03-06-2024 16:54 via theguardian.com
  
  Share details of where you go to get off the beaten track in Scotland – the best tip wins £200 towards a Coolstays breakScotland is home to some of the most beautiful and untamed landscapes in the UK. Whether it’s wild camping (which, unlike other parts of the UK, is legal), Munro bagging, canoeing the lochs and rivers, hiking in the Highlands or staying in the most perfectly situated bothy, we’d love to hear about your favourite wilderness adventures and locations.If you
  
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• Franz Kafka’s Prague: a centenary tour of the writer’s home city

  03-06-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A hundred years after his death, the author’s presence is as strong as ever in the Czech capital – from his childhood homes and the literary cafes he frequented to the remarkable buildings immortalised in his workIt’s a boiling summer’s day in Prague and I’m staring into the austere face of Franz Kafka. Not the real Kafka, of course – he died exactly a century ago, which is why I’m here – but a cast-iron plaque on the wall of his birthplace. The ho
  
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• 10 of the UK’s best outdoor yoga and activity retreats

  02-06-2024 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Meditation, foraging, surfing, swimming, yoga and more – find your own space at one of these wonderfully restorative destinationsImmerse yourself in the lush hills, heather-capped mountains and river valleys of the Bannau Brycheiniog national park (formerly known as the Brecon Beacons) with a three-night retreat that combines nature’s restorative powers with yoga. Located on a historic country estate, accommodation is in comfortable converted farm buildings – including the old
  
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• Night-time is an intoxicating new land: how learning to love the dark eased my grief

  02-06-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From magical moonlit swims to midnight hikes and listening to owls, I have embraced my insomnia and discovered the joy of ‘night journeys’As I slip out of my clothes, my stomach pinches with fear. The beach – Pevensey Bay in East Sussex – is inky black and eerily empty. The sound of slurping seawater seems noisier than usual, the air smells brinier than it does during the day, and the night breeze feels cool and sharp.My previous efforts at night swimming have been unsucc
  
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• 10 of the best gardens in Europe you’ve probably never heard of

  01-06-2024 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From Amsterdam to Athens, these beautiful unsung spaces exhibit a riot of colour, elegant design, history and tranquility Any list of European gardens must begin with Italy, even though their immaculate form, symmetry and reliance on non-flowering evergreen structure might jar with the modern yearning for pollinator-friendly naturalism. The Italian garden reached a peak during the Renaissance and has barely changed since. Its fundamental principles remain elegance, charm and decadent relaxation.
  
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• Why I love Europe’s hidden gardens

  01-06-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  When I toured Spain’s world-famous estates and palaces, it was a small semi-concealed garden I stumbled upon that made the biggest impression – and inspired me to discover other urban oases across EuropeLast spring, my wife and I embarked on an extended family holiday through Spain, taking our two young children on a month-long road trip around a country we didn’t know well but quickly came to love, for its ancient walled cities and diverse landscapes, its full-bodied wine and
  
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• ‘Pillars, pergolas, palms and pines’: readers’ favourite gardens in Europe

  31-05-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Our tipsters’ horticultural finds from Hanover’s formal terraces to the world’s oldest university botanical garden in PaduaVarenna is the perfect Italian village, from its hilltop castle to the shore of Lake Como. Easily accessible by train or ferry, it is host to a spectacular botanic garden. The meandering Passeggiata degli Innamorati – the Lovers’ Footpath – brings you in 20 minutes from the ferry to Villa Monastero (entry €10, open March-November). Wi
  
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• Rail route of the month: from Genoa to Ventimiglia, Italy – a line of cinematic brilliance

  30-05-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Along the coast through Liguria to the French border, our slow travel expert finds the tunnels as bracing as the coastal viewsNature has its way of derailing travel plans. A landslide in August 2023 in the French Alps blocked the main railway just west of the Mont Cenis tunnel. This route is used by all trains from Italy to Lyon and Paris. The sleek French TGVs and the even sleeker Italian Frecciarossa trains competing on the lucrative link from Milan to the French capital were stopped in their
  
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• An alternative guide to the Lakes: how to escape Cumbria’s twee side

  29-05-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Avoid the tourist hotspots of the Lake District and you’ll discover a more authentic side to the area with artists, microbreweries and community pubsYou’d be forgiven, as a visitor to the Lake District, for imagining that the governing attractions are daffodils, Grasmere gingerbread, Herdy (the bleating fell-side variety and the brand), mountain watercolours and lake steamers. So fixed have these associations become with the region that it’s now the victim of its own twee, comm
  
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• Tell us about a river or lake adventure in Europe – you could win a holiday voucher

  28-05-2024 13:20 via theguardian.com
  
  Share a favourite water activity or great place to stay on a river or lake – the best tip wins £200 towards a Coolstays breakFew things are more relaxing than spending time by the water. Whether it’s kayaking on the Dordogne, navigating Dutch canals on a houseboat, whitewater rafting in Slovenia, swimming in Alpine lakes or escaping to a waterside cabin in Scandinavia, we’d love to hear about your favourite river and lake adventures in Europe.If you have a relevant photo,
  
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• Be a better tourist! 28 ways to have a fantastic holiday – without infuriating the locals

  28-05-2024 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From badly behaved travellers to horrendous carbon emissions, summer holidays aren’t always an unmitigated good. Here is how to travel responsibly and still have a great timeTourism is almost back to pre-pandemic levels – which is good news and bad news. However much holiday destinations rely on them, no one wants badly behaved tourists blocking views, partying wildly in the streets or pricing local people out of their own cities. Overtourism, carbon emissions, nature depletion and p
  
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• How an eco-campsite in north Wales rescued our family holiday from disaster

  28-05-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  We were supposed to be on the Italian Riviera, but an impromptu switch to a glamping break on the Llŷn peninsula proved a more than acceptable substituteEveryone has a good holiday disaster story, don’t they? Even experienced travel journalists.Ours was a twist on the classic passport fiasco, that saw us having to “exchange” a two-week trip to the sunny Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera for sitting on a compost toilet in Wales. Continue reading...
  
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• Doggie paddles: 10 of the best dog-friendly beaches in the UK

  27-05-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A new Sawday’s guide to dog-friendly days out selects ideal beaches for dog walkers year-round – plus places to stay nearbyDog-friendly year-round but with an on-leads rule between 1 April and 31 August to protect ground-nesting birds, Holkham beach is a brilliant family destination. The walk down to the golden sand is enchanting – along boardwalks and through pine forest – and there’s a cafe serving homemade sandwiches and cakes. Lots of great local walks too.Stay
  
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• How to keep your cool cycling up Italian mountains with a teenager in tow

  26-05-2024 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  E-bikes transform a four-day cycling tour of the South Tyrol from an endurance test to an enjoyable jaunt with enough puff left over for bonding chats amid the spectacular sceneryBikini to swimsuit. Factor 15 to 50. Paperback to Kindle. The answers to my holiday prep questions have changed over time, but this year there was one extra decision: pedal bike or electric?I was off on a four-day cycling tour in the South Tyrol with my 16-year-old daughter. Her idea of a holiday errs more towards Insta
  
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• 10 of the UK’s best new and revamped seaside hotels

  26-05-2024 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  An art deco hotel, a restaurant with rooms and sea views aplenty … Our selection covers everywhere from the Highlands to the Isle of WightThe Albion hotel, which can lay claim to some of the best sea views on the island, has been welcoming guests to Freshwater Bay since Victorian times. It is about to reopen under new ownership after a multimillion-pound refurbishment. The new-look Albion will have 40 rooms, 36 of them sea-facing, including two suites, seven dog-friendly ro
  
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• ‘More Le Touquet than Thanet’: review of No 42 hotel, Margate, Kent

  26-05-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  With its oyster bar, rooftop terrace and Turner-worthy sunset views, this breezy, elegant boutique hotel is a welcome new addition to the town’s seafrontWhen I first started visiting Margate, about 20 years ago, there were only two real options when it came to choosing a hotel: the Walpole Bay, an eccentric Edwardian time capsule in Cliftonville, with floral carpets, an original 1927 trellis gated lift and a collection of unsettling “antiques” in the corridors (dolls’ hea
  
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• ‘All the elements of the classic British seaside holiday’: five unsung beach towns

  25-05-2024 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Travel writers take a salty, summer saunter through old-fashioned seaside towns that have ‘not yet been Airbnb-brushed out of existence’Photographer Martin Parr’s 1999 film Think of England captures the nostalgic appeal of Weymouth: roast dinners at seafront B&Bs, pensioners with cones of Mr Whippy, the carousel whirling to the familiar tune of the funfair organ. “It’s not a resort that needs a lot of razzmatazz,” says the man sitting in front of a “
  
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• Welshness is essential to the Aberystwyth experience: why I love ‘Aber’

  25-05-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The sun doesn’t always shine, but when it does the town’s idiosyncratic seaside cheer and remote feel make a train trip worthwhileAlong the promenade come the crowds: drag queens spouting one-liners, farmers gossiping in Welsh, a choir out of rehearsal but still singing, and a man who raps to himself and the heavens. There seem to be as many dogs as humans, and twice as many gulls, all eyeing the fish and chips. The funicular railway up the cliff has a queue of Hasidic Jewish familie
  
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• ‘Have a beer by the pier’: 10 readers choose their favourite UK seaside town

  24-05-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From a Yorkshire fishing village to a genteel beach resort in Essex, our tipsters share their top coastal getawaysSaltburn-by-the-Sea boasts a magnificent beach and plentiful ice-cream, coffee bars and a burgeoning arts scene. Among the highlights has to be a stroll along the Grade II-listed pier and hopefully a ride down the UK’s oldest water-balanced cliff tramway (still closed at time of writing after a fire in January, but being repaired). Head for lunch at the superb Seaview fish rest
  
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• A different Roman holiday: novelist Conn Iggulden on the city’s lesser-known wonders

  23-05-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The bestselling historical fiction writer, whose new book, Nero, is out today, urges visitors to the Eternal City to make time for the quieter pleasures on offer around its seven hillsI have loved Rome all my life. I went first when I was 10, to stay in a convent. The highlight then was slipping into a cage with two guard dogs, convinced I had a gift for soothing savage beasts. Reader, I survived.The most recent was in April this year, which involved being pickpocketed at the Circo Massimo metro
  
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• ‘The greatest biodiversity in England’ – a wander through the Isle of Purbeck ‘super’ nature reserve

  22-05-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Alongside rare birds, reptiles and insects, this corner of Dorset, poignantly depicted in Mike Leigh’s Nuts in May, serves up brilliant heathland walks, sea views and pints of local aleMike Leigh’s brilliant 1976 Dorset-based comedy Nuts in May begins with Keith and Candice-Marie taking the chain ferry from Sandbanks across the mouth of Poole harbour to the Isle of Purbeck, where they camp, visit Corfe Castle, walk along the mighty Jurassic coastline and end up in an altercation with
  
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